By The Distance
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day two hundred and seventeen: As much as Matt trusts Sasha, the distance was bound to cause friction eventually.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th cycle. Now cycle 11!_

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**"By the Distance"  
Matt/Sasha (OC)  
Sequel to The Fourth Bird's Call, You Keep Calling Me Back to Your Heart, Waves of Joy, Leap the Ocean, and Liverpool Escapade**

They had never let the 'long distance' govern their relationship. By the magic of webcams they could still see each other. They could count on one hand the number of times where they had been in the same place… The hotel in New York, where they'd met, the time she had come with her family for summer homes, and his surprise visit for her birthday… For however long they were apart, those times where they were together, as well as the promise of future encounters, were enough to keep them at peace.

Then there were the moments where the distance was downright painful, like when Sasha's father had his accident. As difficult as it had all been though, they'd always been on the same page.

It started to dawn on him there was another part to this story: There was the awareness of all these things in her life he couldn't know about because he was a whole ocean away. He wasn't there and… what if this gave the impression he didn't exist, that she was single… Then there was Adam.

It was the kind of thing where it would take a while but then you would notice how much you were hearing the name come up over and over again. It was normal though, he was a friend and one of the founding members of Sasha's as yet unnamed Glee Club, so his name, like the others', was bound to come up.

But then it was coming up more often, it seemed. She would tell him how he was their best male vocalist and that he was starting to bring attention to their club… Matt would tell her that was good, he'd nod… Then he'd wish she'd change the subject.

Now though, Adam was sometimes around, in her room, while she and Matt were talking, and it'd always feel as though she would cut their conversations short on account of Adam. Still, Matt was understanding, he trusted Sasha and he knew how she felt about him.

Then he'd found out something, which Sasha had neglected to tell him: Adam was her ex-boyfriend.

Shelley, Sasha's best friend and another member of the club, had let it slip one afternoon while Sasha had stepped out on their call. Matt hadn't said anything, acted normal throughout the call. The next time they'd talked, by his request, they had been on their own. She'd noticed right away how he seemed upset, so he got right to the point.

"Why didn't you tell me? About Adam, how you guys dated…" She looked surprised that he knew, but she moved past it.

"I know, I should probably have told you, but… It's all in the past, I didn't think…" she went on, apologetically.

"Is it? In the past?" She blinked. "I seem to be seeing as much of him as I am of you lately. He's always around." She shrugged.

"He's my friend, Matt," she reasoned.

"The way you talk about him, I'm not so sure of that. How do I know what's going on when the cameras are off?" She looked for one second like someone had slapped her.

"Well I don't know, why don't we find out?" He saw her eyes looked wet a second before he saw her hand move to the mouse… and the call was disconnected. He sighed, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

He didn't mean to come off so accusing, but all these feelings trapped in him had just been too much.

They didn't talk for nearly a month. He'd try video calling, instant messaging, e-mail… She hadn't fallen off the grid; she just didn't want to talk. The more days went by, the more he really didn't blame her. It'd been ridiculous, especially because he knew he could trust her – he just didn't trust Adam, didn't know him enough to know if he could… This is what he hated the most… They lived in two worlds, and the only place they connected was on their screens. Neither of them really knew what was going on beyond that screen, who the other players were beyond basic facts and trivia.

He missed her so much, and with every prompt she didn't respond to, he felt he'd really screwed up and that he'd lost her… It made all the things he'd received from her, every photo, just stand out that much more. He didn't want to forget, didn't want to go and declare himself defeated. Sasha meant too much to him.

It was twenty-four days after he'd gone and made that accusation that he saw 'Sasha Wilcox Calling' appear on his screen. He dropped his pen, scrambled for the mouse. When her face appeared on the screen, his initial reaction was relief, joy… but seeing hesitation still on her face, he mirrored it. She spoke first, after a minute.

"Hello, Matt." He didn't dare talk yet. He'd been the jerk, he'd let her talk first. After a bit of silence which ran on for a minute or so, he watched as she looked aside, sighed, then looked back to the screen with a softer look on her face. "I've… I've missed you."

"Missed you too," he breathed out.

"Tried not to," Sasha cut right back in. He quieted. "I hated… the things you said…" She paused. "But… I guess… I didn't give you much reason to think otherwise." He shook his head, about to talk, but she cut him off. "I didn't tell you because there was never going to be any issue with Adam, and I knew you might… misunderstand." He looked back to her. "And I didn't tell you because if you reacted that way, I couldn't tell you the truth. The truth was a secret, which didn't belong to me." Now he was confused. "Funny thing, it was Adam who got me to call you. He said… it's okay."

"Sasha…" he shook his head.

"Adam's gay." He closed his eyes. "I'll trust you'll keep that to yourself?" He looked back. "He told me, when he broke up with me, because he wanted me to know why, because he cared about me. But it's still his secret. Understand?"

"I… Yeah," he nodded. "Sasha, I'm sorry. A-and I'll apologize to him, too."

"It's okay, he knows." She paused, and he could see she was on the verge of tears again. "It hurt that you didn't trust me."

"But that's just it, I do trust you. And I regretted what I said… every day…" He sighed. "You had good reasons not to tell me, I-I understand it. But sometimes I just think that… We don't know each other, not really… That's not right," he shook his head.

"You're right," she nodded, looking back at him. "We'll find a way. I'm not losing you."

THE END


End file.
